Disciplines for Life Part 4: Meditation

Biblical meditation involves looking at the Word, comparing it to our lives and to the world we live in, and then responding with concrete changes.

Meditation is active

3 Keys to Effective Meditation

1. Eliminate Distractions
-(As we saw last week, Jesus made a regular practice of withdrawing from distraction-Mark 1:35; Mark 6:45-46; Mark 14:32-34; Luke 4:42; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12)
-Make an effort to do away with distractions. This may mean something needs to be removed from your room or you need to find a less distracting place to meditate.
(Typical Distractions: Noise, hurry, crowds)

2. Fill Your Mind with Truth
This is the source of a lot of confusion about meditation. Our typical understanding of meditation is to empty your mind of everything. Biblical meditation is an emptying also, but it is an emptying by filling. We fill our minds with truth and empty it of ungodly thought, attitude and action.

What should we be meditating on? Philippians 4:8-9 gives us a good starting point.

We will only know truth as we practice the discipline of bible study
Read Joshua 1:8 and Acts 17:11 to see the importance of the Word to Israel & the early church

“We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.”
R.C. Sproul

“I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists wen we approach our bible wit the idea that it is not only a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking.”
A.W. Tozer

Ask: What is something you hate waiting for? (red lights, food, etc.) Why do we wait for those things? (because we have to, it’s something we want, etc.)

3. Wait
Wait for what? new truth? (no) The answer to all your problems? (maybe not) A lightning bolt? (probably not) Then what?

We wait for the Spirit to show us how to apply this truth to our life. We wait for God make his truth real to our lives. We wait for the truth to transform us.
How do we wait? Actively-listening, paying attention, taking notice, journaling, praying)